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Character Guide
Despite how widespread the phenomena of Dungeons and Dragons, and the relative ease of accessibility, there are those who come across the RPG and wonder this: what the hell is going on? That is, of course, due to the seemingly boggling amount of information that can be collected with one Google search. I’d like to say that is not the case; the Dungeons and Dragons world (henceforth referred to as DnD or some variant) is vast and has been in development since the 1960s. However, there are ways to ease the blows (if you like) which I shall attempt to do here. As with any other RPG, DnD has rules and methods to the madness that ensues. Combined with this RPG’s rules (standard among most message-board-based games of its ilk), the idea of adding the (arguably) most confusing element to DnD – the character sheet – is an off-putting idea indeed. Many people have expressed confusion because of those damn numbers, just as many people find themselves daunted by so-called ‘advanced’ tactics in play at this game. Neither are beasts which are hard to tackle if one has the tools equipped to deal with them and, in this guide, I will attempt to give you a bit more training with those tools (as they have already been given players to use), so that you can join the fun. ='WHY IS IT REQUIRED?'= The character sheet is only required if the following are true: *The character in question is adventuring – this means if a character is made to sit in a pub all day and do nothing, has a bit of background in the militia, but otherwise does not engage in more than street brawls/town intrigues/cow milking festivals, they do not need a character sheet. For those purposes, they are considered a level 1 commoner or - if applicable – level 1 Aristocrat. There are other exceptions as well, if you want to know, just ask! *The character in question is high-level *The character in question is epic. Saying that, we are far more lenient on low-level characters and their corresponding sheets, especially if the player is learning. Always remember this when at Faerun: community and RP are far more important. Now having said that, high to epic level characters ( especially in this setting) need to be monitored as they are capable of great and terrible things, given the chance. That is not to say we don’t want high and epic levels to do the things they do, but I would certainly like to be informed or simply aware that someone just might blow up the moon. ='OKAY, WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH RP? IT JUST LOOKS LIKE A BUNCH OF NUMBERS!'= They are. The character sheet is a numerical representation of your character’s personality, physical and/or mental prowess, or lack of any of those traits. The numbers determine just how good (or how bad) they are at any given task and the reason we enjoy these numbers is because they do not lie. With character sheets, DMs and other players always know if they’re being conned. Alternatively, players can turn around and remind the DMs that they accepted their character’s statistics and, if said statistics are being used properly in a game-play situation, tell us to bog off. And we would humbly do so. The character sheet, as it is, is protection as well as a means to achieve great things as smoothly as possible. ='OH...CAN YOU DO IT FOR ME?'= I can’t, but Cherub can! Just click here! Note that while we offer this service happily, we also encourage you to learn the ropes yourself. Character sheets are a bugger, but they’re not at all hard. It just takes a little bit of reading and time and rather than lumping poor Cherub with all those numbers and taking away time for him to play, familiarise yourself with the mechanics, as we believe everyone is capable of doing. ='SO, OKAY. CAN WE BE A BIT MORE SPECIFIC ABOUT HOW THE NUMBERS = PERSONALITY AND WHAT NOT?'= Certainly! I will say that a lot of the sheet is self-explanatory, however, some of it involves a bit of number crunching (which, again, isn’t difficult with a bit of light reading). What I will outline now are the bits of the character sheet which have the most RP synergy and what some players use to help them shape the written personality/history/what have you of their characters. These important parts are as follows. *INITIATIVE *ABILITIES (more commonly referred to as Stats) *SKILLS *FEATS ='INITIATIVE'= Now, on table top, the character’s initiative score is most commonly used to modify the score they receive to decide who goes first. This means, people with a higher initiative will likely get to take their turn first (if the dice is in their favour). Shortly, initiative is the score that shows how quick your character is. In RP, a high initiative score can be translated to how quick your character is in both physical and mental capacity. If you’ve got a witty rogue, then this score immediately lets us (the DMs) know that, or, it leaves us to safely assume. Initiative score, like any other score, can be increased with magical items and/or spells to reflect its potency, but anyone with an initiative score higher than 5 can be safely considered as pretty damn quick! As a player, it is your choice of whether or not this trait (along with all the others) applies to the character’s physical or mental prowess. Sometimes it can be combined. ='ABILITIES/STATISTICS'= There are 5 man statistics that need a ‘natural’ number. By natural, we mean the number your character had before anything in the game-world affected them. The 5 main statistics (and how they can be translated in RP) are as follows: *'Strength' – pretty self-explanatory. How strong is your character? *'Dexterity' – again, self-explanatory. How nimble is your character? *'Wisdom' – Most say this comes with age, that isn’t always true. Does your character react with his/her gut instinct or are they a bit more level-headed and use insight instead? *'Intelligence' – How much does your character know of the world around them? *'Charisma' – How physically attractive is your character? Or how much presence does your character have? Note: Charisma is one of the more subjective abilities. Not all characters with a high charisma score are seen as physically attractive, but there is something about them that is irresistible and/or commanding. The highest natural score you can have for any ability is 18. The lowest natural score is 3 (though that generally makes the character unplayable). Before I go any further, I want to break down what these numbers can mean for the character. In the Player’s Guide to Faerun (3.5ed) you can find an explanation, but I will just expand a bit on it here. If you give your character an 18 in any stat, considering that it is the highest natural score, you must be ready to play that out. Any character with a score of 18 or higher in any stat makes that character the pinnacle of might, beauty, what have you, of their race. For instance, the average human has a strength score of 10. They can walk on their own two feet, lift a good amount of weight, use a hammer, etc. The town blacksmith, a pretty strong and impressive looking guy, will have a strength score of about 14. He’d probably be one of the strongest men in the area, too. The blacksmith (in the world of Faerun) would be regarded as above average strength. If you were to give your character an 18 in strength (natural), that sort of physical prowess would be renown. It is not something that can truly be played down and, to most people, such strength would be otherworldly and depending on the score, godly. If that’s what you’re going for with your character and are happy to play that, it’s all good (Faerun is full magnificence, after all), but just consider the scale of these things before you slap 3 18s in the sheet just because it is a nice number. As well, don’t give your characters ability scores you can’t handle - we would expect the RP to be translated accordingly and if your so-called intelligence 21 wizard can’t keep up with the basics of magical theory...then there is a problem, isn’t there? Likewise, I shouldn’t see any strength 8 commoners lugging around a box full of heavy plate armour. At least, not by themselves. So, quick breakdown of the numbers *3-9 = Poor *10-12 = Average *13-15 = Above Average *16+ = Exceptional/Inhuman This biggest point I am trying to make here is that you do not need the maximum natural score to be the fairest, strongest, most intelligent bugger in the land. Where you think an 18 would be perfect, a score of 12 will likely do your character justice. Remember, as a played character, you are already above average, everything else is just a bonus. All these traits above also have a tendency to affect one another, either positively or negatively. i.e. A witty (high intelligence) person who has a low charisma score might find that their scathing remarks about the town guards would be rather off-putting, instead of endearing whereas the witty and charismatic bard will garner a different (and arguably better) result. A person with a high strength score but low dexterity would be the poor idiot who hits things like a bull and likely trips over his own feet in the process. Do your own character justice and don’t just drop other scores to compensate for the high ones you have. In other words, each score should be an accurate representation of your character's personality. *''Note'': Ability scores can be increased and decreased by levels, spells, or items. Bear in mind that every time you change an ability score, you are going to have to change anything with a numerical value on the sheet. Frankly, it is a pain in the arse – just be mindful of that as to not give yourself a headache. (My bard has been level 8 for a year for a reason. xD) ='SKILLS'= Skills reflect your character’s knowledge of certain things and they are modified by the ability scores above. Your character’s initial pool of skill points is dependent on his class and level and intelligence score. Check out each class here to see the exact numbers. Now, you do not have to pump points in anything just because your character has a slight understanding of it. For instance, it safe to assume that all average folk can swim unless otherwise stated. However, putting more points (or more commonly, ranks) in Swim gives your character the potential to do extra and extraordinary things while swimming. The same applies to every skill. The higher the score, the more you can have a good play with a particular skill. For example, my knight has a Ride (Horse) skill rank of 33 after modifiers. Not much can stop that man from riding his horse any way he deems fit. But, as a player willing to have fun and be fair in any encounter I may have with him, he might ride his horse straight into a tree. It’s about player discretion, as well as the numbers in this case. As a note, I’d like to make it clear that we do not ask characters to roll on anything, but you can always look at others’ character sheets for reference. Remember, RP circumstances can potentially beat the numbers, but still, the numbers do not lie. The numbers give everyone a starting point as well as a clear idea of what each and every individual is capable of, but it does not mean that they reach their full potential every time (see above knight riding into a tree). Conversely, some people have straight dumb luck. That works too, in some cases. It’s RP, have a good play, but do not abuse either side of the coin. Overall, you should choose skills that correctly reflect what your character is going to be about. This is not the tabletop game where you have to worry constantly about fighting. If the character is not a fighter, then you have the freedom to ignore those skills. Or, if you were to pump ranks into a skill that is classically fighter, translate it differently when used in-character. Tumble, for instance, is a skill that most bards, monks and rogues have to help them dodge a lot more in combat situations. I have the ranks in it for my bard to reflect that she uses acrobatics to enhance her performances. With a bit of practice, the potential to translate that into a combat situation is easy, but I wouldn’t have to worry about it and (as is likely for me) she’d be fluking her way through a fight until I had her back-flip into the wall and knock herself out. She may be good at tumble and will certainly dodge a few hits, but as she is not a fighter, she wouldn't know how to properly navigate her battlefield. Again, it is player discretion and certainly a bit of insight. Look at the skills and truly consider what they might mean for your character and not just what it means in the book. There are plenty of skills on the list to choose from and while daunting at first, you would likely have a lot of fun doing so because it’s really where you can begin customising your character. It is also possible to find out a lot more about them when having to decide on character traits, without all the fluff. ='FEATS'= Feats are exactly those, extraordinary skills that each individual has. Every character has a limited number of feats and more are granted at higher levels or through magical items and spells. Choose carefully when deciding your feats and make sure that they reflect your character. Also, don’t think that just because a character has a feat that no one else can mimic (to an extent) that ability. i.e. fighters, rogues and rangers oft select the Two Weapon Fighting feat, which improves their chances to hit while wielding two weapons. Anyone with a standard-functioning brain can hold two weapons and wildly swing them around, but those with the feat will be more accurate and have a level of finesse that cannot be attained without that feat. Basically, those with feats have worked hard for them and when those characters are seen in action, it is a marvel to behold. This does not apply to the Meta-Magic feats, Item Creation feats or any other feats which are more academic, or feats which have a prerequisite. That does not (or should not) stop you or your character attempting them in RP and thusly entertaining us all with the epic fail. Good RP is Good. <3 ='CONCLUSION'= The character sheet is incredibly useful, but not required. We prefer them, but we will not hassle you for one if you (as the player) do not think it is needed. However, as GMs, we will ask you to create one if your character is trucking along in the world and trumping everyone and everything, while pondering how to blow up the moon. Again, a well-done character sheet is your protection from us and any mistakes we might (and likely will) make, and our protection from power-gamers and/or common mistakes. This is not to say that we believe everyone who wants to join, or has joined, this game is a power-gamer, far from that. We are quite aware of the potential though, and as it is relatively easy to be incredibly powerful in this game (canonically, level 10 characters rule entire countries, uncontested), we just want to keep our bases covered. That’s it for this guide, I hope it made character sheets a little bit more friendly to your eye. If you’ve any questions, feel free to post them up in this forum. Thank you and happy role-playing! Category:Content Category:Guides